China is a nation that has a culture of rigorous exams going back thousands of years. To become upwardly mobile socially and economically, you had to do well on one of the imperial exams that is offered only once every three years. Changzhou has had a long history of producing people who excel at the imperial exams. The highest award on the test is jinshi. Recently, I found the grave of one those scholars from the Ming Dynasty.
The man's name was 陈洽， Chen Qia. He was born in 1380 and died in 1426. Apparently, he died trying to put down a rebellion in Vietnam. For what I can gather, he was appointed to the military based on his calligraphy skills. That seems a dubious qualification at best. Bet here is the other thing that gets me. His grave is overgrown with weeds.
There is a small garden nearby. That's no surprise. No, what had me scratching my head was this.
So, you have a minor figure in Changzhou history. None of the locals I know have ever even heard about this guy or knew he existed. Yet, there are European styled sculptures in the in front of traditional looking buildings with classic Chinese architecture. No rhyme or reason. Chen Qia died fighting in Vietnam, not Europe. Oh well, I chalking this up to just another Changzhou oddity